Morning File, Wednesday, March 28, 2018

News 1. Ferry “Remember the Big Lift?” asks Examiner transportation columnist Erica Butler: The astronomically expensive Macdonald bridge deck replacement caused a lot of inconvenience over roughly two years, but there was a silver lining. To help compensate for evening and weekend bridge closures, Halifax Transit increased ferry service during evenings and weekends, and people […]

The talented Maggie Rahr fills in while Tim is away. She speaks with Diana Lewis about the growing interest in the Indigenous Studies minor program at Dalhousie University. Plus Maggie and Terra talk about abortion doulas, David Hendsbee, Peter Kelly and the Oxford Theatre. (direct download) (RSS feed) (Subscribe via iTunes)

1. Rural ride-sharing Examiner transportation columnist Erica Butler discusses the demise of Halifax Transit’s route #402: The 402, which ran a Monday to Friday one-way loop from Spryfield to Sambro and Ketch Harbour, fell victim to new standards for ridership on Halifax Transit routes, which set a minimum of 25 passengers per hour during peak […]

1. Wankers “Canada’s top general has condemned the actions of a group of Armed Forces members who disrupted a spiritual event on Canada Day marking the suffering of Indigenous Peoples at a statue of Halifax’s controversial founder, Edward Cornwallis,” report Adina Bresge and Michael MacDonald for the Canadian Press: Gen. Jonathan Vance, chief of the defence staff, called the incident “deplorable” and said […]

News 1. Liberals double-down on IBM deal they criticized four years ago as a “huge clusterfuck” Back in 2012, I reported on the then-NDP government’s decision to outsource the province’s SAP operations to IBM: By handing 73 union jobs to the notoriously anti-union IBM, Nova Scotia’s NDP has turned its back on its core support in […]

News 1. Ombudsman “The Nova Scotia Office of the Ombudsman hasn’t necessarily launched an investigation into council activities in Cape Breton Regional Municipality, an official said Wednesday,” reports Tom Ayers for Local Xpress: Christine Brennan, executive director of the ombudsman’s office, told Local Xpress on Wednesday an email from her office to a citizen last […]

News 1. More on the education battle • The work-to-rule job action is resulting in cancelled school bookings for artistic productions around the province, reports Katy Parsons for the CBC, resulting in financial difficulties for arts organizations: The contract dispute has meant cancellations and empty seats for other school theatrical performances, such as Eastern Front Theatre’s Dickens’ A […]

November Subscription Drive Click here to purchase a subscription. News 1. McNeil’s pricey PR people suck at their jobs Yesterday on Facebook, Graham Steele posted an analysis of the McNeil government’s reaction to the collapse of negotiations with the teachers union. Steele’s entire post is worth reading, but I was most struck by this: The government’s communication strategy […]

News Views Noticed Government On campus In the harbour Footnotes News 1. Engage, or else Halifax council’s Community Planning & Economic Development Committee meets this morning. I have in the past given this committee a bit of grief, but I take it all back; to its great credit, the committee demanded some accounting from the provincial […]